Brisbane has a wonderful ferry service that is easy to use. No special card needed, just tap your credit card on when boarding and off before disembarking. The best part, the fee to take the ferry is $0.50 cents!
We took a “CityCat” ferry from near our hotel to a region known as South Bank, an area favored by tourists for it’s waterfront views, restaurants and museums. Just off the ferry is this “Rainforest Walk”, which for a lot of tourists may be the closest they get to the real thing.
According to historical records, this area was a rain forest at one point in time, before the city was established.
Since it was lightly raining we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
There’s even a small creek running through the middle of it.
Directly adjacent to the rain forest is this Nepalese Peace Pagoda. Brisbane was the site of the World Expo in 1988, and this building was constructed for the Expo. The timber for the pagoda was sourced from Nepal, where 160 Nepalese families spent two years crafting each element of the building. It was shipped via 3 containers, where it took 6 months to put it all together. This is the last international exhibit remaining at the site.
It started raining in earnest, so we headed to the Queensland Museum Kurilpa. Free to enter…we like free!
They are currently hosting an exhibition on Ancient Egypt, which we skipped, but the first item you see upon entering the museum is this “pyramidion”. This once stood in the tomb chapel of Amenhotep-Huy, a royal steward and chief scribe. It dates from about 1390-1353 BC, and the tomb was located in Saqqara, Egypt. Ok, enough Egyptian history.
In the main lobby is this Giant Squid that some fisherman brought up from the depth years ago. I don’t think the eye in this thing is real. There were signs all over the top telling kids not to climb on it.
There is also a Giant Cuttlefish. I’ve never seen one in the wild, but we have found numerous cuttlefish bones on the beaches of Australia. They look a lot like pieces of styrofoam.
There is an interesting and informative exhibit that discusses the plight of the Australian “South Sea Islanders”. These are the descendants of Pacific Islanders from over 80 islands who were kidnapped or tricked (referred to as Blackbirding) into coming to Queensland, Australia to work as indentured servants in the sugarcane fields during the mid to late 19th century. I had thought the Australians just had issues with the Aboriginals, never knowing that this region (Queensland) had a history of slavery.
In 1901, Australia passed a law that described itself as a country for “skilled white labor”, and the majority of remaining South Sea Islanders were repatriated back to their homelands. Many, particularly the children of these slaves, resisted. The 1901 law was not repealed until 1975. The below artwork is a room filled with wooden carvings meant to represent South Sea Islanders in the hull of a ship.
In an exhibit called “Secrets” what appears to the casual observer as a brown suitcase is in fact a Type 3, MK II suitcase transceiver from WWII. The MKII was used by agents, resistance groups and special forces.
They have a whole permanent section regarding dinosaurs. This Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni skeleton was discovered in Muttaburra, Queensland in 1963 by Doug Langdon. The Aussies even get literal while naming new dinosaurs.
This portion of a tree known as the “Investigator Tree” has an interesting history. It was originally growing on Sweers Island in northern Queensland, and was visited by Captain Matthew Flinders on his vessel the “Investigator”. Captain Flinders was the first to circumnavigate Australia (then New Holland) in 1802-1803. Flinders is also well known as he was the first person to refer to New Holland as Australia.
In 1841 the HMS Beagle, of Charles Darwin fame, visited Sweers Island and the Captain was surprised to find this tree with “Investigator” etched into it in large letters. The Captain also cut “HMS Beagle” on the tree, and many other explorers who visited the island after this also etched them name on the tree. Here is an artist depiction of the tree from 1857.
In 1887 a violent cyclone hit the island and damaged the tree. They ended up bringing two portions of the tree back to Brisbane, and this section has been in the museum since 1889. Just goes to show you never know what you are going to find in a museum!
Speaking of oddball finds, this German tank from WWI, the Mephisto, was in the military exhibit of the museum. In April 1918 this tank was part of a battle on the Western Front and become stuck in a shell-hole, where the crew ended up abandoning it. It was recovered by Australian troops and brought to Brisbane as a trophy of war. It spent years outdoors in various locations until they decided to give it a permanent home here.
This sign is on the South Bank waterfront. Despite the rain it took a few minutes to get a photo without people in it.
Reminders of the British colonial past are everywhere in Australia. Here is a statue of Queen Victoria in front of the former Treasury building.
We went into Brisbane City Hall to check out their museum, which is quite small. The current exhibit is called “Precious”, and includes collections from various people in the community. As Kim told me, it was like being at our local county fair. Most of it was blah, but I do like antique toys. I wouldn’t collect them, but I admire that somebody else does.
The City Hall building is beautiful. Opening in 1928, it is still the seat of the Brisbane City Council. Up until 1958 this was the tallest building in Brisbane.
This photo was taken about 10 days before Australia’s election for Prime Minister, and there were all these political activists in front of City Hall vying for votes. I told one guy “sorry, we’re from California”, and he said “vote anyways”. I can’t tell one party from the other here. The conservatives are actually called “Liberal”…it’s very confusing!
However, this is likely the most confusing thing we saw in Australia. Do they realize their clothing, umbrellas, backpacks and even their wigs are made of oil?
A quick rundown of restaurants we visited in Brisbane;
Moo Moo Wine Bar – Good, great steak, nice wine list, excellent company!
Short Grain – Wow, this is excellent Thai food! Do not miss!
Agnes – Highly acclaimed restaurant, but the place is very loud, too dim to read a menu, and the pacing was way off. The food was also unimpressive. Oh well.
Coming up next, we pick up a rental car and head south to Lamington National Park for the last part of our trip.
